Devotion: Hungry for Missions?

By:Solomon Jerome Banda

With great sorrow of heart I have watched the 21^st century church being reduced to a Sunday morning talk show proving what was written, “having a form of godliness but denying the power therein,” 2 Timothy 3:5. The church has lost focus of her primary goal, which is to win lost souls for Jesus.

The church has raised a generation that is only burdened by the whims of their own ambitions, to make it big in this world, and could care less about Christ’s burden for the lost.  In today’s humanistic world, everything that man invests his effort in can only be but for his own satisfaction.

Jesus issued a CLEAR command to the world that is “TO GO OUT AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF MEN”. This should be our only mission but sadly, this is the most neglected discipline in the modern day church. Churches and prayer houses have become coliseums where several acts are performed and at hefty prices. Every prayer has a price. One must pay through the nose for a minute of prayer with their “Pied Piper!”

The word of God on the other hand, is very clear on the matter. “Freely it has been given thee, freely you must also give.” Christ died so that all men may be saved. John 3:16 bears a profound truth. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosever believes in Him should not perish, BUT have everlasting life.” It is only by faith and submission to the will of God, and through the abundance of His Grace that we are saved. There is a greater need for men and women who will go to the ends of the world to reveal the Living, Saving, and all Powerful Christ now more than ever before.

Why should we really be concerned about missions? Mathew 24:14 says “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto nations; and then shall the end come.” Christ, our master, requires us to reach every soul, every people, every country, as well as every continent. “All the world” means the entire world and no exception.

Jesus Christ is not for ‘Christian’ folks alone. Remember He forged all that was created and with His breath gave it life. He is for everyone, and every man therefore, MUST be saved. We must take Him to the ends of the world. The hour of His return draws nigh; He returns as a glorious King, no longer the Perfect and suffering Servant. He will come in full power to judge all the earth.

1Thesalonians 4: 16-18 says “For The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and REMAIN shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 5: 2 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

There is no escaping of God’s judgement. There is not an aorta of doubt that He is coming to judge the world. Surely, if there was evera time of great desperation, now is that time. “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”We are running out of time. Now is the time to GO.

Beloved, all men have their fears, the greatest being the fear of the unknown. How can any rational being DROP everything; his ambitions, family, and friends etc. and march-out to destinations unknown? Naturally, we love to be in absolute control and in our comfort zones. Surrendering is a fearful proposition. Yet Jesus Promises us, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

Jesus sees the end from the beginning. All we have to do is follow through in complete obedience and let go of anything that may entangle us. All of God’s promises are yes and Amen. Note that in all this, man is counted worthy to partake of the cup of affliction in diverse nations and among diverse people. Therefore, no excuse can ever be good enough.

Moses’s excuses weren’t good enough; Gideon’s excuses weren’t good enough, Saul’s excuses weren’t good enough, Jonah’s fear and negligence wasn’t good enough and so he ended up in the belly of a giant fish. Shall we continue to neglect the principle for which the church was built and established?

Romans 6:1—“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2- God forbid!!! How shall we, which are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 6- Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin and now, if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”

Why do we fear and despair when the Lord has given us everything? We have the keys to unlock the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but we so neglect the word of God and resist the Holy Spirit by constantly rejecting his calls to the mission field.

What must we do? Maybe you have read this and after some careful thinking you desire to take up the challenge for missions. What must you do? Mathew 9:37-38, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”This verse has increased in relevance with every passing day. True servants of God are getting fewer and fewer in number; pioneering missionaries are fewer now than ever. Pray therefore, that He may send labourers unto His harvest.

Jesus Christ is not looking for sophisticated intellectuals, but the simple man; He is looking for people who are willing to Obey and in His furnace, He shall purify them. Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am; send me.” Make this your prayer; here I am Lord, send me!

The road to being is to be. The road to be a missionary is to be a missionary. We cannot wait for some other time; neither can we wait for the perfect time, the perfect people, because the perfect time never comes and the perfect man died for us on the Cross.

If you need to know the depth of Christ’s unconditional love and salvation, you need to believe these things; that Jesus Christ is God indeed, believe He died for your sins, and that He rains victorious over death. Ask Him to come into your heart and even though you might die, YET you shall live forever with Him. All was paid for in blood for us at the cross. Jesus will reign in your heart and make you a new creation. See 2 Corinthians 5:17

Christ’s love for this world ran RED at Calvary. Ours is a much-needed task to GO and we Must GO now! Make it your prayer that the Lord will quicken His bride, the church, to missions and evangelism. We are at the End of the End. Whom shall I send? Who will GO for us? What say you?